How to Set Up Spotify on Google Home Mini Smart Speaker

If you’re a Spotify streaming service subscription holder, you can now listen to your playlists and request songs from the Spotify library to play on your Google Home Mini smart speaker. However, the Mini will not play Spotify recordings until you link it up with a (free, at least) Spotify account. Indeed, with a few simple setup steps, you’ll gain full access via voice commands to your Spotify content through your Mini speaker.

Linking Your Spotify Account to the Google Home Mini Smart Speaker

Preliminary Work

1a. Connect your Google Mini speaker to the Google Home service. Before you can access any of the services offered by the Google smart assistant service, you’ll need to connect it to the internet, and then register it with Google via the Google Home app.

1b. Create a Spotify account. If you do not have one already, head on over to the Spotify web site here, and follow their screen prompts to establish a Spotify account. Make sure to take advantage of any free trial offers that may be in play.

Connect your Spotify account to Google Home Mini Smart Speaker

2a. Bring up the Google Home app on your tablet. On our iPad, the Google Home app is found on page three of the home pages.

Google Home App entry, as shown on the iOS home screen.

The app then runs and displays its home screen, as shown next.

Google Home app on iOS, displaying its home screen, with the hamburger menu control highlighted.

2b. Bring up the Google Home main menu. Tap the hamburger item, located in the top left corner of the home screen displayed above (the three stacked horizontal lines), pointed at by the purple arrow. The main menu then displays, as shown next.

Google Home app on iOS, displaying its main menu with the Music choices item highlighted.

2c. Tap the Music link in main menu. You then get the Music Service Choices screen, as shown next. In our scenario here, the Spotify service, not yet linked, is shown under the More Music Services heading, as pointed at by the purple arrow.

Google Home app on iOS, displaying its Music Service Choices screen, showing Spotify as unlinked, highlighted.

When a music service is not yet linked to Google Home, a link symbol appears on the far right side of the screen, rather than a radio button, as illustrated in the next picture.

Google Home app on iOS, displaying its Music Service Choices screen, with the Link item for the Spotify service highlighted.

2d. Tap the LINK option, pointed at in the previous picture by the purple arrow. This brings up the Link your Spotify Account window, as displayed next.

2e. Tap the LINK ACCOUNT link, as indicated by the purple arrow in the previous picture. This brings up the Connect Google to your Spotify account screen, as shown next.

Google Home app on iOS, displaying the -Connect Google to Spotify Options- screen, with the -Log in to Spotify- option highlighted.

2f. Tap the green ‘Log in to Spotify’ button. If you followed all the steps above, then you now have a Spotify account. So, no need to sign up for a new one here. Therefore, choose this option that allows you to sign in with credentials from an existing account. Then, you get the Spotify Login screen, as shown next.

Google Home app on iOS, displaying the -Spotify Login- screen.

2g. Enter your Spotify user Id and password. Once entered, tap the LOG IN button. The Spotify Account Confirmation screen then displays, which shows the name on the account to which you just logged in, and gives you the choice to either confirm or cancel (back out of) linking this particular account to your Google Home devices.

2h. Tap the green OKAY button. Then, if all goes well, Google Home returns you to the Music Service Choicesscreen, as shown next. This time when viewing that screen, note that the Spotify entry no longer has the LINK option at the far right, but instead, displays an UNLINK link. This indicates that you’ve successfully linked your Spotify account to Google Home Mini.

Google Home app on iOS, displaying its Music Service Choices screen, showing the linked Spotify entry as circled.

Note that Google Home app has also set Spotify as the default music service provider. However, you need not leave Spotify as the default. But if you do, you may shorten your voice requests for Spotify content as described below.

2i. Test out Spotify on your Google Mini Speaker. You may now speak commands to your speaker to play music, comedy, or any other recording in the Spotify library. Just ask, as in

Okay Google, play Bob Dylan, Rainy Day Woman on Spotify.

Hey Google, play some party music on Spotify.

Okay Google, play Harold Perry on Spotify.

Or, if you have made Spotify your default music service as discussed above, you can omit the ‘…on Spotify’ part on the request. E.g.

Hey Google, play Bob Dylan, Rainy Day Woman.

Hey Google, play some party music.

Okay Google, play Harold Perry.

2j. Enjoy! You will now be able to ask your Google Home Mini speaker to play any of the tens of millions of recordings in the Spotify library@ The range of instantly accessible genres, artists, old songs, and new songs, is truly impressive. You may even be able to sell of your popular music CDs and tapes, for space savings, since most anything you may wish to play, Spotify will likely either already have, or will get in short order.